I have a guitar question.
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I have a guitar question. Is it normal to have to retune your guitar every time you put a capo on and take it off?
I'm not talking like the 8th fret, I'm talking like the 3rd fret.
Does this mean my guitar needs to be set up or is that just how it goes? The electric guitar I play now, which I love, has this behavior, and I don't remember experiencing it before with other guitars.
(Jimmy) Paging @samvarma
@alisynthesis I have pretty cheap and basic guitars with basic, rather crummy tuners, and I don’t have to retune them when I add or remove the capo. (I noticed you were retuning a lot during your last stream
. Beautiful guitar though!)
@samvarma -
@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social full disclosure, I was a roadie for a college professors classic rock band in my 20s and have built a guitar that does not play because after 3 attempts at fretting (do not ever do this), I paid to have a guy do it and he screwed the instrument up beyond repair.
@unsafelyhotboots @alisynthesis Frets are basically the one thing I pay a pro to do, but I’ve only ever needed that once. And that was just a fret end dress.
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@unsafelyhotboots @alisynthesis Frets are basically the one thing I pay a pro to do, but I’ve only ever needed that once. And that was just a fret end dress.
@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com agreed. Fretwork requires specialized tools and a lot of experience doing it. My guitar was unplayable because the frets were put in the wrong place between frets 12-15 and it had a zero fret so the lower action from the zero fret ended up biting me in the ass.
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@alisynthesis Take a picture of the back of your headstock and I may be able to help.
@RyanHyde thanks! Here's the headstock and a little drawing of the tiny logo etched into the back of the tuners. Never noticed the logo until today!
They don't feel wobbly at all, but i'm not sure that tells me anything.
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@RyanHyde thanks! Here's the headstock and a little drawing of the tiny logo etched into the back of the tuners. Never noticed the logo until today!
They don't feel wobbly at all, but i'm not sure that tells me anything.
@RyanHyde oh, and oddly, I made a video partially about this guitar earlier today. If you go toward the end, you can see a little walk around.
my guitar stuff...for now
Someone asked me what guitar stuff i used fur my recent livestream. This is it!
MakerTube (makertube.net)
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@alisynthesis I have pretty cheap and basic guitars with basic, rather crummy tuners, and I don’t have to retune them when I add or remove the capo. (I noticed you were retuning a lot during your last stream
. Beautiful guitar though!)
@samvarma@sknob lol yeah, I don't typically play with a capo that much, but I did in that stream and it was a real pain in my ass. So now I'm motivated to get it fixed.
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@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social they are usually attached with a screw and a nut that fits around the actual tuning peg - the nut keeps the tuner level and prevents tilting motion while the screw prevents rotational motion. Super easy to remove and replace. It is a guitar modification that your risk of fubar'ing your axe is very low, and in your case sounds like it would probably fix the axe staying in tune.
Get two sets of spare strings when you do it in case it break one string while putting on the new ones. Use a jewelers screwdriver or electronics screwdriver, avoid even one of those USB charged electric screwdrivers.@unsafelyhotboots awesome, thank you!! I knew there would be some super experienced guitarists on here that I wasn't thinking of. Really appreciate the help.
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@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com agreed. Fretwork requires specialized tools and a lot of experience doing it. My guitar was unplayable because the frets were put in the wrong place between frets 12-15 and it had a zero fret so the lower action from the zero fret ended up biting me in the ass.
@unsafelyhotboots ouch, that really sucks
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@RyanHyde thanks! Here's the headstock and a little drawing of the tiny logo etched into the back of the tuners. Never noticed the logo until today!
They don't feel wobbly at all, but i'm not sure that tells me anything.
@alisynthesis Oh good, these are Gotoh style tuners. Not sure if they’re Gotohs and that’s just an old logo, but pretty easy to find, cheap, and reliable.
These will probably fit, but again, research the diameters you’re dealing with first.
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@unsafelyhotboots ouch, that really sucks
@alisynthesis @unsafelyhotboots Ouch indeed
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@unsafelyhotboots awesome, thank you!! I knew there would be some super experienced guitarists on here that I wasn't thinking of. Really appreciate the help.
@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com also worth adding that @RyanHyde@techhub.social touched on the points I missed - calipers are your friend for getting the correct replacement tuners.
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@alisynthesis Oh good, these are Gotoh style tuners. Not sure if they’re Gotohs and that’s just an old logo, but pretty easy to find, cheap, and reliable.
These will probably fit, but again, research the diameters you’re dealing with first.
@RyanHyde woo! I'm pretty regularly wishing for a set of calipers anyway, so I will get myself some and get on the road to locking tuners. Thank you so much!
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@RyanHyde follow-up question. Is installing new tuners something I can do myself with only rudimentary knowledge and no experience with setting up guitars? Or is that better left to someone who knows wtf they're doing?
They’re easy to replace, it just requires a bit of care with the screws because they’re tiny and strip easily.
The only tricky part is ensuring you get the right size as there’s a mix of metric and imperial options as guitars are made all over the world. Nail that, and it’s an easy job.
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@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com also worth adding that @RyanHyde@techhub.social touched on the points I missed - calipers are your friend for getting the correct replacement tuners.
@unsafelyhotboots @RyanHyde i'm kind of a tool fanatic and I'm really excited to have an excuse to buy calipers.
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@alisynthesis @unsafelyhotboots Ouch indeed
@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com you know, zero regrets. I had a blast building it, and I learned more about how to maintain my instruments by going through the bills process than I would have in ten years of the roadie gig that came after. I would share pics but it's currently packed up in storage.
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They’re easy to replace, it just requires a bit of care with the screws because they’re tiny and strip easily.
The only tricky part is ensuring you get the right size as there’s a mix of metric and imperial options as guitars are made all over the world. Nail that, and it’s an easy job.
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@unsafelyhotboots @RyanHyde i'm kind of a tool fanatic and I'm really excited to have an excuse to buy calipers.
@alisynthesis @unsafelyhotboots Haha, honestly that was my same reaction the first time I did this. Now I use those calipers constantly, just to satisfy curiosity
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@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com you know, zero regrets. I had a blast building it, and I learned more about how to maintain my instruments by going through the bills process than I would have in ten years of the roadie gig that came after. I would share pics but it's currently packed up in storage.
@unsafelyhotboots @RyanHyde that's very cool! Maybe someday I'll build a guitar. I always love visiting people's shops who are working on instruments.
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@alisynthesis @unsafelyhotboots Haha, honestly that was my same reaction the first time I did this. Now I use those calipers constantly, just to satisfy curiosity
@RyanHyde lol exactly
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@unsafelyhotboots @RyanHyde that's very cool! Maybe someday I'll build a guitar. I always love visiting people's shops who are working on instruments.
@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social
There are a boatload of resources out there now that we're not there when I was in HS doing this. If you have a jig saw, a router, a bunch of good clamps, a high quality sander, and a source of good hardwood, you can get 90% of the way to a finished product then take it to a pro to fret. It goes faster if you have some hand planes as well, but those aren't essential.
For me most of the fun was countouring the back of the body and doing the body shaping. Guitar bodies are art, guitar necks are a rote process you follow step by step. And, as evidence by my hydro dipped crazy bass, you don't need to build a guitar to have that kind of fun - you just need an instrument you really want to refinish.
